Disabling Apps/Programs from Focus Stealing

condabest · 01 May 2017

This is a general inquiry about how to disable specific programs' ability to steal focus/move their windows to front in windows 10. There used to be a registry you could edit to disable this I believe, but was removed for Windows 7(?) and apparently editing it (I've read [1]) doesn't affect anything.

Is there some way to edit a program's permission's or the registry or another setting to prevent either all programs or select programs from stealing focus etc? (This is for programs that don't give you the option of turning it off in their settings.)

Thanks for the help :)

[1] https://superuser.com/questions/18383/preventing-applications-from-stealing-focus

bro67 · 01 May 2017

It is an all or none for this option. That means all windows are going to be allowed for Focus or none. Mouse Hover is what you are talking about and you can see the info at Activate window on mouse hover - - Windows 10 Forums If you are talking about a window that a program is running in and needs to come to the front for your attention, that is a totally different item that cannot be changed.

dalchina · 02 May 2017

Looking at this a slightly different way, you can use a 3rd party utility to expose a function to keep Windows on top. There are a number of of older utilities that did that which don't work now, and some that do. Some added 'Send to back' as well.

'Keep on top' is something I use quite frequently - you can set two Windows 'on top' and so prioritise those two as well.

Presently I use Actual Window Manager (they also do Actual Title Bar - which just has title bar functions and is cheaper, being a subset). I got the former 'free' (legitimately).

Disabling Apps/Programs from Focus Stealing-snap-2017-05-02-09.34.16.jpg

Here you can see added buttons- the pin is 'on top' and changes when the window is pinned 'on top'.

Disabling Apps/Programs from Focus Stealing-untitled.png

Here you can see 'Keep on top' added to rt click title bar options. However this gives no visible indication of the window being on top. These options are a combination of those from Moo0 Window menu plus (which is redundant, given the other program) and those from Actual Window Manager.